“Surely ’twas not you, my lady.”Eustache frowned as he implied a connection between the goat’s death and Iolande’s request.
Dagobert winced in anticipation of her reaction and bent his attention upon a hopelessly curled missive.He would not be caught in the resulting battle.
“I?”Iolande straightened to her full height.
Dagobert suspected that Eustache already regretted his hasty words.Indeed, the knight looked more than a little cowed before Iolande’s indignation.
“Ido such a thing?”she demanded.“Truly, you have lost your wits for once and for all, Eustache de Sidon, should you believe such nonsense.You know that I abhor the killing ofanycreature, even to fulfill the duties of the lord’s board.’Twas the workings of Rex Mundi’s hand you witnessed in the smithy, a calculated display of evil intended to strike fear into those who viewed the carnage.”
Iolande leaned toward Eustache, the light of battle in her eyes.
Dagobert stifled a smile when Eustache flinched.
“I only thought...”that knight managed to say before Iolande interrupted him.
“What do you know of thinking?Naught at all!Should you have the poor judgment to truly believe your accusation, I know that you have no place at my hearth.You are welcome to leave and think such foolery elsewhere.”
Eustache held his hands up in surrender.“Mine were impulsive words, my lady, and sorely regretted ere they left my mouth.I am sorry, my lady.”
Iolande folded her arms across her chest, her anger only slightly appeased by his apology.
Dagobert cleared his throat and drew their attention back to the matter at hand.“Why would you make this request now?”he asked his mother.
Something flickered in her gaze, a glimpse of emotion that was banished quickly, as was her wont.“I had a dream,” she said, but her words did not ring with her usual conviction.
Dagobert knew that this was not the true reason and he suspected Eustache did as well.That man looked at his hands, apparently fighting the urge to challenge Iolande again so quickly.
“It was a vision of your demise.”Iolande’s tone became more confident.“Truly, I would not have you ride to your death when all seems allied against you.”
Dagobert folded his hands together on the well-worn table.He considered his mother’s words for a moment even though he knew ’twas impossible to grant her request at this late date.’Twas unlike her to show reservations about any plan of action and he wondered what had prompted her demand.
“I appreciate your concern,” he began, but Iolande let him say no more.
“Youcannotgo!”she said with unexpected passion.Indeed, she extended one hand to him in appeal, a most emotional gesture for his mother.
Dagobert met her gaze with confusion.“What has changed?”he asked quietly.
His mother turned away.
“’Twas the dream,” she insisted.
Dagobert shook his head, determined to get to the root of this despite her apparent unwillingness to confess the truth.
“There was no dream,” he said softly.Even though she glared at him, Iolande did not assert her lie again.She offered no new explanation but merely held his gaze with defiance, but then he recalled what she had said just moments before.“’Twas the murder of the goat that frightened you.”
Iolande looked blank before she nodded slowly in agreement.Had he only succeeded in handing her a new excuse?
“’Twas an evil death,” she agreed.“I would have better for you.”
“There will be no death for my lord and friend in this battle,” Eustache asserted, but all three knew their doubts were shared.So much had gone wrong that their mission seemed doomed before it was fully under way.The chances had always been slender that Dagobert could succeed in his quest or even return unscathed.
“I ask you only to step back from the fray,” Iolande asked again, drawing her son’s gaze to hers.
Dagobert pushed his fingers through his hair and stood up to face his mother.“I do not have that option, and you know it well.I took a vow many years past, a pledge sworn to my sire, and I will not break my word at this late date.”
Son and mother stared at each other for a long moment until Iolande’s lips thinned with displeasure and she turned abruptly away.What was this?She had never endorsed the notion of a man breaking a vow, let alone her own son.She walked to the door, pausing to cast one last glance over her shoulder.
“Your father regretted his folly in the end,” she said, the softness of her tone belying the cruel words.
